El Reg Christmas Lectures to span space, big data and GCHQ

Featuring speakers who are even cleverer than our readers

Reg Events What will you be doing in the run-up to Christmas? Mad dash round the shops? Crunching the end of year numbers? Warm white wine and cold sausages in a meeting room?

Or will you be kicking back with other similarly bright people, sipping hand crafted beer and listening to a bona fide expert talk about space exploration; or using big data to cure cancer; or exactly how the government stole our privacy and whether we can get it back?

If it’s the latter, it’s because you’ve taken the wise decision to buy a ticket to The Register’s inaugural Christmas lecture series.

Each of our lectures will be given by an expert in their field, with plenty of time for Q&A, and informal conversation afterwards.

Mark Whitehorn: Big Data, Big Problems

On November 25, Reg contributor Professor Mark Whitehorn will be discussing the wonders of Big Data and how the analytics methods of the digital business world can be applied to the academic world - and vice versa. Mark is not just a professor at The University of Dundee he also works in the ‘real’ world applying analytical techniques to business data. Tickets are £10 and available here.

Duncan Campbell: GCHQ and Me

On 2 December, Veteran investigative journalist Duncan Campbell will be discussing the state of cybersecurity, privacy and intelligence a year and a half from the Snowden revelations. Duncan has been responsible for some of the biggest security scoops of the last 30 years. He was the first journalist to disclose the very existence of GCHQ - and faced up to 30 years imprisonment as a result. Tickets are £10 and available here.

Geraint Jones: What Planet Should We Be On?

On December 9, we welcome Dr Geraint Jones, of UCL’s Mullard Space Science Lab. Geraint has done stints at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab and the Max Plank Institute for Solar System Research, and currently lectures on planetary science and researches areas as diverse as planetary atmospheres, cometary science and the solar wind. He will give us an overview of the UK’s space exploration scene and tell us whether there’s much chance of finding another planetary home when this one craps out. Tickets are £10 and available here.

Your ticket doesn’t just get you the talk. It gets you a pie and a pint to get you in the mood before hand and to keep the conversation flowing before and after the formal lecture. You might even find yourself walking off with one of the much envied rarely seen Reg Goodie Bags.

So whether you fancy some intellectual jousting, want to learn something to impress friends and family over the Christmas season or simply want to round off the end of the year by sitting back with a drink and listening to someone who’s even clever than you, you’ll want to be here. ®